Jewelry storage means

ABSTRACT

There is disclosed a means for storing jewelry such as necklaces and earrings and the like, comprising a plurality of hollow tubular columns of rigid clear transparent butyrate tubing extending vertically in proximity to each other from respective holes through a solid rigid base, the bottom surface of which is covered with a soft felt-like material. The upper ends of the columns are covered by respective caps removably fitted to those respective upper ends and provided at their under surfaces with hooks or other supporting members depending into the tops of the respective columns to which jewelry may be attached and suspended within the tubes. The felt-like material is slit in such a manner at positions beneath the respective base plate holes that if an item of jewelry falls down to the bottom of the tubing it will fall on the felt. By then lifting the device off the surface on which it is rested the weight of the fallen jewelry will cause the slit portion of the soft felt to fold or droop down leaving the fallen jewelry on the table so that it can be retrieved.

United States Patent 1 1 Phelps i 1 JEWELRY STORAGE MEANS Gary M.Phelps. 2845 Valley Blvd. No. 12, West Covina, Calif. 91792 [22] Filed:Apr. 29, I974 [21] Appl. No.: 464,785

[76] Inventor:

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,595.70 8/l926 Boelter3l2/l28 X 2 75l.070 6/[956 Morse 206145.14

Primary Examiner-Leonard Summer Attorney, Agent, or FirmDonald D. Mon

57] ABSTRACT There is disclosed a means for storing jewelry such as Apr.8, 1975 necklaces and earrings and the like. comprising a plurality ofhollow tubular columns of rigid clear transparent butyrate tubingextending vertically in proximity to each other from respective holesthrough a solid rigid base, the bottom surface of which is covered witha soft felt-like material. The upper ends of the columns are covered byrespective caps removably titted to those respective upper ends andprovided at their under surfaces with hooks or other supporting membersdepending into the tops of the respective columns to which jewelry maybe attached and suspended within the tubes. The felt-like material isslit in such a manner at positions beneath the respective base plateholes that if an item of jewelry falls down to the bottom of the tubingit will fall on the felt. By then lifting the device off the surface onwhich it is rested the weight of the fallen jewelry will cause the slitportion of the soft felt to fold or droop down leaving the fallenjewelry on the table so that it can be retrieved.

8 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures JEWELRY STORAGE MEANS This invention relatesto means for storing jewelry when not in use, in a manner making itclearly visible.

An object is to provide a simple means for storage, which can visiblydisplay the items ofjewelry. A related object is to facilitatesupporting the jewelry and recovering it if it should fall from itssupport.

The invention is carried out by a tubular column, preferablytransparent, rising from a hole formed through a solid base member whichcan rest on a surface as a table or dresser.

A feature resides in the provision of a removable cap member forcovering the upper end of the tubular column on which is provided ajewelry support means so that the jewelry can hang down from the supportmeans within the column.

A further feature resides in the use ofa covering material at the bottomsurface of the base member, which is soft or compliant, and which isprovided with a slit formed where it covers the bottom of the hole sothat ifjewelry should fall down to the bottom of the column it will fallon the felt-like material beneath the hole and will remain there if thejewelry device be lifted from its supporting surface, by reason of thesoftness or compliance of the material, which will fold or droop down atthe slit to leave the jewelry on the said support surface.

Ordinarily, a number of capped hollow tubular col umns each rising froma hole through the base member, will be placed in close proximity toeach other, and the underlying soft or compliant material will besimilarly slit at each of the holes. In this manner different items ofjewelry can be placed in the different tubular columns.

The foregoing and other features ofthe invention will be betterunderstood from the following detailed description and the accompanyingdrawing of which:

FIG. I is an elevation view partially in cross-section showing part of ajewelry storage means according to this invention;

FIG. 2 is a crosssection view taken at line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-section view taken at line 3-3 of FIG. 1, but on asmaller scale than in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a bottom view looking from line 4-4 of FIG. 1 and on the samescale as FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 shows a form of cap which may be used in lieu of the capillustrated in FIG. I; and

FIG. 6 shows, partially in cross-section, the lower part of a cap memberlike that in FIG. I but having a ladder form ofjewelry support in lieuof the hook form of support shown in FIG. 1.

Referring to FIGS. I through 4 of the drawing, there is shown a basemember 10 which may be of wood or plastic or the like and preferablyornamental as illustrated. There are shown a number of holes. five holesin this case, passing through the base member. Four of the holes 11, I2,13 and 14 are shown of the same size and the fifth hole 15 is shown oflarger size, although it will be understood that the size of the holesis a matter of choice and they may be made of various sizes if desired.Each hole has inserted into it from the top of the base, the lower endof a vertically extending hollow tubular member or column of diameterswhich fit the respective holes, and preferably these columns are made oftransparent material, such as a butyrate plastic which is a cleartransparent material for effective display ofthe jewelry. Thus, tubularmembers 16, 17, I8,

l9 and 20 fit snuggly within respective holes 11, I2, 13, 14 and 15. Tofacilitate introduction of the tubular columns into the respectiveholes, the lower end of each of the tubes is provided with a bevel 21.

The upper end of each tubular column is covered by a cap of which onlycap 22 is shown at the top of column I6 since column 16 is the only oneof the columns whose upper portion is illustrated. Each cap, which mayconveniently be made of wood or plastic or the like, comprises acylindrical disc portion 23 in the under surface of which there isformed an annular groove 24 which fits over the annular upper edge ofthe column. The top surface of member 23 is provided with a handle inthe form of a sphere 2S, and at the central part of the bottom surfaceof member 23 there is a hook 26 which screws into member 23 andpreferably is provided with an ornamental flange 27.

A layer of felt or felt-like material 28 is glued to the under surfaceof base 10 and is substantially co extensive with that under surface. Atthe position of each of the holes through the base the felt-likematerial 28 is slitted and each slit is in the form of two adjacentsides ofa square. Thus, at hole 11 there is the two sided slit 11a and11b," at hole 12 there is the two sided slit 12a and 12b; at hole 13there is the two sided slit 13a and 1319; at hole 14 there is the twosided slit 14a and 14b and at hole 15 there is the two sided slit 15aand 15b. It is noted that in the bottom view, FIG. 4, all of the slitsare shown closed so that the felt-like material 28 lies flat across thebottom of the base and the holes, excepting at hole 12 where a flap 28aof the material 28 is shown partly hanging away from the base 10 and thehole 12. It will be seen that this flap when fully drawn away as shownby flap 40 at hole 11 in FIG. I takes the position of the diagonal 29 ofthe square having sides Ila and Ilb. Thus the sides of each of the twosides of the square should be such that the diagonal clears or istangent to the opposite side of the hole from that where the right angleof the square is located.

It will be noted that the tubular column 20, being of greater diameterthan the other tubular columns can contain more jewelry and for thispurpose it is provided with two hooks instead of one hook as can be seenin phantom in the bottom view of FIG. 4, wherein the two hooks 30 and 31at the bottom of its cap are indicated in phantom.

FIG. 5 shows a somewhat different form of cap which may be used in placeof the cap shown in FIG. 1. It con tains similar parts in that it has adisc 32 with a cylindrical dowel 33 protruding upwardly, but instead ofhaving the annulus 24, it is provided with a frusto-conical lowerportion 34 in which the hook 35 is placed. The frusto-conical portioncan be inserted into the top of the column as a cork.

FIG. 6 shows a modified form ofjewelry attaching arrangement which maybe used in lieu ofa hook. In FIG. 6 there is shown in cross-section thelower part of portion 23 of the cap 22 provided with the annulus 24, butinstead of a depending hook there is provided a de pending ladder 36having a number of rungs 37, the ladder being suitably attached to thelower surface of portion 23. This ladder form ofjewelry hanging means isuseful for such jewelry as earrings which can be hung over the rungs.

The hook form of suspension is useful for such items as necklaces suchas necklace 38 shown in FIG. I.

From the foregoing explanation it will be observed that the jewelry maybe hung in the storage device by lifting the cap from the top of theappropriate tubular member and hanging the jewelry on its hook or ladderor other attachment device and then replacing the cap at the top of thecolumn. If it should happen that the jewelry should fall off the hook orladder or be dropped down the column it will land on the felt-likematerial 28 which will lie flat across the entire bottom of the basewhen it is put on a table or the like and in falling it will not scratchor damage the table or the jewelry because of the relatively soft felton which it will land. Then to retrieve the fallen jewelry item thedevice will be lifted off the table and the weight of the fallen jewelryitem will cause the corresponding flap to droop downward as the storagedevice is lifted, leaving the jewelry item on the table where it can beretrieved.

It will be understood that the embodiments of the invention illustratedand described herein are given by way of illustration and not oflimitation, and that modifications or equivalents or alternatives withinthe scope of the invention may suggest themselves to those skilled inthe art.

I claim:

1. Means for storing jewelry comprising:

a rigid base having an opening through it and adapted to rest on asurface;

a hollow tubular member having its lower end inserted into said openingand extending upwardly from said base; a removable cap covering theupper end of said tubular member and having jewelry support meansdepending from it into the upper part of said tubular member;

the under surface of said base having, in the vicinity of said opening.a covering of a compliant material which substantially covers saidopening and is slitted at said opening to provide a flap underlying saidopening so that jewelry which may fall from said jewelry support meansdrops on the flap;

whereby when the storage means is lifted from the surface the flapdroops downward at the slit, leaving the fallen jewelry on the surface.

2. Means according to claim 1 in which the tubular member is a verticalcolumn.

3. Means according to claim 2 in which the tubular member istransparent.

4. Means according to claim 3 in which the tubular member is of abutyrate material.

5. Means according to claim 1 in which the lower edge of the tubularmember is beveled inwardly to, facilitate its insertion into theopening.

6. Means according to claim 1 in which the compliant material is afelt-like material.

7. Means according to claim 1 in which the slit is in the shape of anangle with sides in the vicinity of the periphery of the tubular memberso that the compliant material can fold in a manner to uncover atriangular area at the bottom of the base, thereby uncovering the lowerend of the tubular member when the base is lifted.

8. Means according to claim 7 in which the angle is a ninety-degreeangle forming two sides of a square the diagonal of which issubstantially tangent with a side of the opening.

l i l

1. Means for storing jewelry comprising: a rigid base having an openingthrough it and adapted to rest on a surface; a hollow tubular memberhaving its lower end inserted into said opening and extending upwardlyfrom said base; a removable cap covering the upper end of said tubularmember and having jewelry support means depending from it into the upperpart of said tubular member; the under surface of said base having, inthe vicinity of said opening, a covering of a compliant material whichsubstantially covers said opening and is slitted at said opening toprovide a flap underlying said opening so that jewelry which may fallfrom said jewelry support means drops on the flap; whereby when thestorage means is lifted from the surface the flap droops downward at theslit, leaving the fallen jewelry on the surface.
 2. Means according toclaim 1 in which the tubular member is a vertical column.
 3. Meansaccording to claim 2 in which the tubular member is transparent. 4.Means according to claim 3 in which the tubular member is of a butyratematerial.
 5. Means according to claim 1 in which the lower edge of thetubular member is beveled inwardly to, facilitate its insertion into theopening.
 6. Means according to claim 1 in which the compliant materialis a felt-like material.
 7. Means according to claim 1 in which the slitis in the shape of an angle with sides in the vicinity of the peripheryof the tubular member so that the compliant material can fold in amanner to uncover a triangular area at the bottom of the base, therebyuncovering the lower end of the tubular member when the base is lifted.8. Means according to claim 7 in which the angle is a ninety-degreeangle forming two sides of a square the diagonal of which issubstantially tangent with a side of the opening.